New Water Polo Coach Has Olympic Past and Records

﻿This year, Chadwick faculty and students welcome a new addition to the athletic community, water polo Coach Robert Lynn. Lynn’s experience in the sport is quite impressive.

Lynn’s parents threw him in the water at the young age of 3 years old. After discovering baseball, Lynn decided he liked the combination of the ball and the water, so he started playing water polo at the age of 6.

Lynn went on to play in high school at Long Beach Wilson, then in college at USC, where he held a scoring record for more than 20 years. He played on the men’s national team from 1989-2001, and even represented the United States in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Lynn also played professionally in Croatia, Greece, Italy and France. Lynn enjoyed his time overseas.

“The coaches were more thorough and knowledgeable. They understood how to get you to reach your standards; they were able to enhance you,” Lynn said.

Lynn made the transition from player to coach in 2003, when he started coaching high school. Later, in 2007, he joined the U.S. Men’s National Team coaching staff as an assistant coach.

Lynn was part of the U.S. team that took home silver medals at the Beijing Games in 2008.

Transitioning from being a player to being a coach can be an interesting process, according to Lynn.

“The transition was seamless. All my experiences gave me such a broad knowledge of the game; I felt like I had to give it back,” Lynn said.

Lynn has used all of his experiences with different coaches to create his own coaching philosophy.

“The coach’s job is to push you and push you past what your mind is saying you can’t do. I’ve learned to try to take the weaknesses of the kids, and turn the bad habits into good ones because it will help the performance of the whole team.

“If individually you get strong, collectively you get stronger,” Lynn said.

Coaching a men’s national team can be very different from coaching a high school team. Lynn argues, however, they have their similarities as well.

“Training men is like training the kids sometimes. You have to modify their behavior; you have to listen to them so you can know what they can and can’t do, what their limitations are,” Lynn said.

After the Chadwick boys’ former coach, Will Didinger, left for a job with the L.A. County Lifeguards, the team didn’t know what to expect with its new coach. As soon as Lynn arrived, however, they readily accepted him.

“It’s amazing to learn from a very high level coach, and since his arrival, I can see our whole team’s skills progressing,” junior Zach Speroni said.

The young team has had to play impressive and older teams such as Brentwood, El Segundo and Redondo Union in order to prepare themselves for league. Lynn wants the team to embrace the experience they get playing against bigger schools, even if it means a loss.

He wants to emphasize many tips for success to the boys, but there are two in particular he really likes to focus on.

“The most important thing is chemistry on the team and being positive with each other,” Lynn said.